Police and Crime Commissioners Vote.

One of the things to watch on this election is that Private Security Companies have been tendering for services given by the Police, that includes putting Security Vans on the street amongst other things and that certain Political Party members are pro privatisation.
I agree that the great percentage of Candidates are Political, with a smattering of opportunists, and a minute proportion of actual genuinely motivated people. I don't think that this election is a good thing as I'd rather the money was spent on putting more Bobbies on the street, and this is only going to lead to less and a movement towards private security being used for purposes that it will never be able to carry out.......but it will make the Shareholders happy, and those who gain financially by agreeing to it.

 

The idea for a Commissioner is not a new one and goes back several decades being brought over as a proposition from America. This election came from the recommendation of a "multi-party" Think Tank more than 3 years ago. There is an official mandate, I believe, on how Commissioners should behave, but you just know that politics, budgets, and "other pressures" will make sure that different regions will be facing different measures.

 

I shall be voting because I fell that if you don't vote you can't complain. If the Commissioner doesn't perform as to their promise I'm quite happy to publicly say so.

The problem is that I'm not sure who to vote for . I have easily reduced the six candidates down to three but they re all promising, more or less, the same policies.

One is standing as a political candidate but has been in the armed forces and, in more recent years, has been involved in policy in policing.
The other two have never been political, with one having been a Chief Superintendent and the other having served on the county police authority.

Whilst typing I have decided to drop the political candidate although I'm not opposed to his politics.

I have a little time to investigate further.

 

Still undecided whether to vote as I'm not in favour of systems being forced upon us and then being told it's our democratic right to vote for someone/thing we don't believe in.
I've never even heard of the characters putting themselves forward for the post, nor do I give any credence to the publicity blurb being touted about the credentials of the individuals.
I honestly don't believe that the New Commissioner will have any real powers to stop the Government initiated cuts in the Police Force which is only going to reduce whatever protection we get from criminals in the first place.

 

I agree about the publicity blurbs. They say what they think the public want to hear. I was able to find out what all our candidates answered when asked direct questions face to face. They weren't able to prevaricate when asked directly.

I immediately ruled out any that would not state, specifically, that they were opposed to privatisation.

Three of the questions put to them were:-
Can you promise not to privatise our county police services?
Will you allow companies like G4S to get involved in the running of our county police?
Do you have any connection to companies that might be interested in police contracts?

Only one of the candidates didn't use 'weasel words' when answering. His answers were a straight forward - 'Yes', 'No', 'No'.

Whether he will have any real influence on these decisions is another matter.